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Bangor

Art in the Heart

When you were in school, did you ever wonder how well the teacher could do the assignment given?

Find out how well area art teachers express themselves with paint, pastel and in sculpture by visiting an exhibit by Art in the Heart in the Bangor Public Library’s Lecture Hall during the month of January.

Art in the Heart is an organization of area art educators, teachers who taught and are teaching thousands of students in central Maine.

This is the third year members have exhibited at the library. The public is invited to the opening reception 5-6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4.

In the library’s Stairwell Gallery, “Acadian Hard Times,” an exhibit on loan from the University of Maine, is being shown in conjunction with the Penobscot Reads, a program in which area residents read the same book. This year it is a novel, “Papa Martel” by Gerard Robichaud, a work depicting growing up Franco-American in Maine in the 1920s and 1930s.

The photographs in the “Acadian Hard Times” exhibit showcase the images of John Collier and Jack Delano, members of the Federal Security Administration’s army of artists that included Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein and Walker Evans. Collier and Delano traveled the back roads of northern Maine, photographing farms, villages and residents, documenting the hardships brought by the Depression as well as the accomplishments of the FSA.

The Art in the Heart and the “Acadian Hard Times” exhibits will be at the Bangor Public Library throughout January.

Peace and Justice open house

The public is invited to attend an open house 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5, at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, 170 Park St. Refreshments will be served and Doug Crate will sing and play.

The open house will feature the folding of peace cranes and a slide show review of the organization’s past year of activism.

Organizers said the open house is an opportunity to mingle, talk, get to know new and old members of the movement and affirm one’s commitment to economic, social and environmental justice and peace.

People of all ages and abilities are welcome to attend. For more information, call 942-9343.

Outdoor market

Plans are in progress for downtown Bangor’s Summer 2007 Outdoor Market, now in its third year. A baker who will sell bread and farmer who will sell vegetables, seedlings, flowers, meat and eggs have been added to the list of vendors.

Crafters, artisans, more bakers and more farmers are invited to participate as vendors in the market which runs 5-8 p.m. Thursdays, June 14 and 28, July 5, 12, 19 and 26, and Aug. 2. Deadline to apply for space is June 1. Last year 30 vendors participated in the markets.

Cool Sounds concerts are held 7-8 p.m. in an adjacent space on the same dates as the markets.

For more information or to apply for a space, call 992-4234.

Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Commemoration

A Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Commemoration will be held 4-7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, at the Bangor Y, 127 Hammond St. The event, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine and the Bangor Y.

The event will feature a showing of the video, “At the River I Stand,” a gripping production documenting King’s support of the 1968 strike of black sanitation workers in Memphis. The film will be followed by a discussion led by professor Douglas Allen. Voices for Peace will sing and a potluck supper will be served. Attendees are asked to bring a dish to share.

For more information, call 942-9343.

Tickets for the NAACP’s 10th annual “Keeping the Dream Alive” Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast will be available at the event. The breakfast will be held 8:30-10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15, at Stodder Hall Commons, University of Maine, Orono. For more information, about the NAACP event, call 827-4493.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters

Bugaboo Creek Steak House welcomed 25 children from Downeast Big Brothers-Big Sisters for an afternoon of food and gifts provided by Bugaboo Creek staff.

Bugaboo Creek employee 1st Lt. and executive officer Jeremy White of the 133rd Engineering Battalion in Belfast, who recently returned to Bangor after two tours in Iraq and Bosnia, was on hand to play the role of Santa during the festivities. White is completing a second degree in accounting at the University of Maine.

Master Gardener volunteers

The Penobscot County Extension office announced that the 2007 Master Gardener training program will concentrate on growing ornamentals. Instruction will include information on basic soils, botany and pest management.

The Master Gardener training program fee is $90. Master Gardeners receive a reference manual, opportunities to interact with other gardeners and opportunities to work on a variety of volunteer projects.

Forty hours of volunteer time is required of each trainee as part of the overall program.

The training session begins Feb. 6. Application deadline is Friday, Jan. 12.

Training sessions will be held at the Extension office, 307 Maine Ave., Bangor.

Application packets for the program may be obtained by calling the Penobscot County Extension Office at 942-7396 or (800) 287-1485, or by e-mailing Linda Kinney at lkinney@umext.maine.edu.

Brewer

Good Shepherd Food Bank

At Good Shepherd Food Bank’s V.I.P. – Very Important Partner – Award ceremony recently in central Maine, Maine’s credit unions were honored with a 2006 V.I.P. Award for its support of the state’s first ever and only Food Mobile.

Good Shepherd Food Bank serves more than 550 hunger agencies in Maine, including 84 agencies in Penobscot County. Good Shepherd is the largest Food Bank north of Boston.

The Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger was the first organization to provide funding for food to be delivered by the Food Mobile when it was launched in 2005. At the time, Maine’s credit unions made an initial pledge of $15,000 for the first two years and recently announced an additional $15,000 in funding for two more years of deliveries.

In recognizing Maine’s credit unions, Rick Small, executive director of Good Shepherd, said, “We applaud Maine’s credit unions for your outstanding partnership in helping to feed Maine’s hungry.”

Accepting the honor on behalf of Maine’s credit unions, Jon Paradise, governmental and public affairs manager for the Maine CU League, thanked Good Shepherd “for being a great partner.” He added, “The Food Mobile has helped provide food and supplies to pantries across the state by bringing the food to them and reducing the number of trips they have to make to Good Shepherd in Auburn or Brewer. This has helped food pantries across Maine to save time and resources and enabled them to better serve the thousands of Maine people who otherwise would go hungry.”

For more information about credit unions, visit www.mainecul.org.

Hampden

Sewing class

The Bangor Area Sewing Guild will offer a class in glue stick applique 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Hampden Municipal Building. The cost is $10 to guild members, $15 others. Call 941-8815 to register and for more information.

Orono

Women of the World luncheon

Women of the World will taste soups and breads from around the world at noon Monday, Jan. 8, at the Church of Universal Fellowship on Main Street.

Volunteers are needed to help set up at 11:15 a.m. and to clean up after the meal.

WOW is a group of international women, including Americans, who gather once a month around an ethnic lunch. A cultural program featuring the country or theme of the event usually follows.

WOW is a great place to meet women from around the world, an opportunity to learn about new cultures and to discover new cuisine. Lunch fee is $4, $2 children 6-10, no cost to children under 6 who attend with their mothers.

For more information, call Mireille Le Gal at 581-3423.

WOW is sponsored by the Office of International Programs and National Student Exchange at the University of Maine.